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Sunday, 25 April 2010

What would happen if Greece went bankrupt?If Greece defaults, 7 percent of the entire European Union financial institution liquidity disappears. Likewise, you cannot get paid in drachmas (Greece’s original currency) that are worth next to zero, and the Greek economy would likely still operate on Euros with or without EU approval. In fact, they’d be a constant 6% pain to the system through arbitrage.

The coming $600 trillion debt bubble“As interest rates begin to rise worldwide, losses in derivatives may end up bankrupting a wide range of institutions, including municipalities, state governments, major insurance companies, top investment houses, commercial banks and universities.”

JIM ROGERS: THE NEXT CRISIS IS ALREADY UNFOLDINGKirby Daley, senior strategist at Newedge Group Jim Rogers claim the next crisis has already started to unfold as sovereign debt worries increase and global central banks only exacerbate the issues:

Millennials Are The Brokest Generation Ever No group in America has been hit harder during the current recession than young adults. Millions of Americans are graduating from college with virtually no money, lots of debt and with very dim employment prospects

China opens missile plant in IranChina inaugurated a missile plan in Iran last month, even as the United States and its allies were pressing Beijing to support a new round of tough economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program, Jane's Defense Weekly reports.

U.S. Police may use trash to get a suspect's DNAPolice may sift through a suspect's trash, collect a genetic sample and send it off for DNA testing without a warrant, the state's highest court ruled last week in upholding a 2007 county rape conviction.

Hyperfast missile to hit anywhere in an hourHAUNTED by the memory of a lost opportunity to kill Osama Bin Laden before he attacked the World Trade Center in New York, US military planners have won President Barack Obama’s support for a new generation of high-speed weapons that are intended to strike anywhere on Earth within an hour.

Ex-minister wants young jobless starved into workTHE former government minister Lord Jones has suggested that unemployed young people who refuse to look for a job should be “starved back to work” rather than continue to claim thousands of pounds in benefits.

Iran devises retaliation 'scenarios'Amid threats of a nuclear attack against Iran, a top official with Iran's Armed Forces says the country has "retaliation scenarios" against any aggressor.

If there is a hung Parliament with the Tories with the largest number of seats:-

1 The Queen MUST ask Cameron as leader of the largest Party to try to form a government.

2. Cameron should do so. He should follow the lead of Alex Salmond and form a minority government with NO FORMAL COALITION with the LibDems.

3. Cameron must immediately launch into the fastest possible drive to introduce localism (all the aspects of The Plan), electoral reform (to remove the Labour bias and fraud) and reform of the scandal of Broadcast News actively promoting Labour. Dare the LibDems to vote against that agenda, and shame them if they don't.

Your account now pays minus 2.82%Savers have been dealt another blow as inflation jumped to 3.4% in March. The annual Consumer Prices Index was 3% the previous month. As savings rates lie in the doldrums --with the best-paying 90-day notice accounts struggling to pay three% interest - savers are effectively losing money by holding it on deposit.

Violent crimes are up by 750 a week... and Labour's preferred figures prove itViolent crime rose sharply in the past year, according to Labour's preferred recording method.Ministers consistently cite the British Crime Survey as they look to trumpet their record.But figures released yesterday showed there were 750 more violent attacks leading to injury every week last year compared with the year before.

Clegg flew economy but took business-class fares from EUNick Clegg has admitted taking expenses for business-class air travel while actually flying economy as a member of the European Parliament.The Liberal Democrat leader used the budget airline BMI Baby to fly between Brussels and the UK, but was paid what he admits was 'whopping' expenses based on the price of a business-class seat on a major airline.

Britain's borrowing doubles over a year: Debt now adds up to £15,000 for every BritonBritain's public borrowing has soared to record levels, according to official figures that underline Labour’s legacy of deficits and debt.The Government borrowed £163.4billion in the last financial year ending in March, to fund unprecedented public spending amid tumbling tax receipts.The nation’s borrowing almost doubled from £96.5billion in the previous year – and now stands at 11.5 per cent of national output, the Office for National Statistics said

First Annual Everybody Draw Mohammad DayVia Dan Savage's blog at The Stranger, some clever chappie (I don't know who) has declared May 20, 2010 "Everybody Draw Mohammad Day," in support of Matt Stone and Trey Parker and in opposition to religious thuggery. Why May 20? I haven't a clue, though it could have something to do with Otto ascending the throne of Greece. Or, more likely, King Sancho IV of Castile's founding of the Study of General Schools of Alcalá.

April 23, 2010 "United States House of Representatives" -- Mr. Speaker I rise in opposition to this motion to instruct House conferees on HR 2194, the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestment Act, and I rise in strong opposition again to the underlying bill and to its Senate version as well. I object to this entire push for war on Iran, however it is disguised. Listening to the debate on the Floor on this motion and the underlying bill it feels as if we are back in 2002 all over again: the same falsehoods and distortions used to push the United States into a disastrous and unnecessary one trillion dollar war on Iraq are being trotted out again to lead us to what will likely be an even more disastrous and costly war on Iran. The parallels are astonishing.

The Swine Flu Panic of 2009: Reconstruction of a Mass HysteriaWe bring to the attention of our readers a report by the German Magazine Der Spiegel which suggests in no uncertain terms that the World Health Organization was serving the interests of Big Pharma in blatant violation of its mandate. We are dealing with the outright criminalization of a UN specialized agency, whose ranking officials are serving private corporate interests to the detriment of the broad objectives of global public health and social development

No Where to Hide: Fears of Arrest and Prosecution by Tony Blair on Charges of War CrimesWar criminal Blair, the keynote speaker at the National Achievers Conference organised by Success Resources, a sycophant Singapore outfit at the Sunway Pyramid Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur, hid in fear at the threat that members of the Malaysian anti-war NGOs would throw slippers at him and that members of the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission would serve an indictment for war crimes.

Greece hit by new riots as pressure grows to quit euroSupport for the bail-out of debt-ridden Greece was in doubt last night, leaving the country on the brink of financial meltdown as top German politicians said it should be forced to quit the euro.Riots erupting during workers’ protests over planned public spending cuts, just hours after Greek Premier George Papandreou sought emergency £35billion of loans from eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund

Foreign Secretary David Miliband ordered the £80,000 makeover at the same time as the department was being forced to draw up a hit list of embassies and consulates around the globe it will close to save money.

Millions drink toxic water in the USA, but it's EPA-approved!It has been so long since the federal law regulating tap water has been updated that since 2004, more than one-fifth of the U.S. population has consumed tap water that the government classifies as toxic, but still approves for human consumption

Genetically Modified Soy Linked to Sterility, Infant Mortality in Hamsters“This study was just routine,” said Russian biologist Alexey V. Surov, in what could end up as the understatement of this century. Surov and his colleagues set out to discover if Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) soy, grown on 91% of US soybean fields, leads to problems in growth or reproduction. What he discovered may uproot a multi-billion dollar industry.

After feeding hamsters for two years over three generations, those on the GM diet, and especially the group on the maximum GM soy diet, showed devastating results. By the third generation, most GM soy-fed hamsters lost the ability to have babies. They also suffered slower growth, and a high mortality rate among the pups.

“I’ve got three degrees, including a master’s from a leading Australian university, and my prospects are bleak,” he said. “I send out about four or five CVs a week, with minimal response. I was even delayed going to a job interview because of disruption from a civil servants’ strike. It’s not just me. I’m now looking to go back abroad to find a decent job, as are many of my Greek friends.”

When asked what the three main issues facing the world are, the respondents from the U.S. put the economy and terrorism (40 percent and 39 percent, respectively) in the number one and number two spots. Twenty-six percent said climate change was the biggest issue.

British Taxpayers to Fund Greece up to £1 Billion per YearThough Britain is buried in debt due to decades of Tory and Labour mismanagement, British taxpayers could be forced to pay an additional £1 billion per year to bail out the Greek economy, and if the Lib Dems have their way, that figure will be much higher.

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